Remember how you would do nearly anything to keep your parents from going to PTA meetings or school to visit with your teacher? An 11-year-old boy in the town of Xinzo de Limia, Spain, faked a kidnapping.

According to the Guardian newspaper, the youth texted his father from his mobile phone that he had been kidnapped Monday morning. When his father, who happens to be a Spanish police officer, phoned back, the boy claimed he’d been snatched while emptying the trash and was locked in a car trunk.

A national alert was sent out and Portugal authorities were notified in case the boy made it across the border. However, the dad noticed the keys to another house also owned by the family were missing. He found the boy hiding out there.

The “victim” admitted he was afraid of the pending parent-teacher conference and was trying to make a way to avoid it.

Fake kidnappings are unusual, but not uncommon. In November 2011, Kevin Ashton, 17, of Delray Beach, Fla., was accused of faking his own kidnapping in an attempt to to extort his father for $50,000.

Then in October, police in San Antonio, Texas, arrested Sheila Baley Eubank, 48, for faking her own abduction. She said she did it because she wanted more attention and a day off from work.

n A Minnesota man was arrested after allegedly pointing an AK-47 rifle at his daughter during an argument stemming from her getting two Bs — instead of straight As — on her report card.

Kirill Bartashevitch, 51, had recently purchased the gun because he was afraid that President Obama’s push for gun control legislation would lead to a ban on those kinds of weapons, according to a criminal complaint.

Bartashevitch and his daughter, 15, were arguing about her grades on Jan. 13 in their St. Paul home, the complaint stated. When he swore at the girl over her lack of straight As, she told him she hated him, which led to him allegedly pointing the rifle at her.

A social worker at the girl’s high school notified police of the event on Jan. 17. The social worker said the girl had sent a text message to a friend about the incident. The friend’s mother saw the message and told the social worker about it.

Bartashevitch’s wife told investigators their daughter was telling the truth about what happened, according to the Star Tribune. She added that she tried to protect her daughter, but her husband pushed her onto the floor and pointed the gun at both of them.

The man allegedly admitted to pointing the gun at this family, but added that he had checked the chamber beforehand to make sure it was not loaded. Officials said the daughter told them she was not afraid because she knew the gun was not loaded.

The daughter was taken to a shelter, and Bartashevitch was charged with two counts of terroristic threats. He was scheduled to appear in court Friday.

• Lots of folks are going to eat out this weekend. I wouldn’t recommend Applebee’s.

Michelle Windgassen, 27, of Louisville, Ky., and her boyfriend, John Lewis, 32, were arrested on charges of endangering a minor while they were under the influence of drugs.

Officers were called to the Applebee’s after getting a call about two intoxicated adults, and allegedly found Windgassen in the bathroom snorting heroin, according to published reports. She also allegedly had a container with Xanax bars inside her purse.

Police said they found Lewis intoxicated in the driver’s seat of his car with a 3-year-old boy in the back seat.

Lewis admitted he and Windgassen had been with the boy all day, and investigators said he told them he had also snorted heroin about 2-3 hours before the arrest.

Along with the child endangerment charge, Windgassen and Lewis were also charged with public intoxication with a controlled substance.

• Police in Springfield, Mass., said three masked men who tried to rob a Chinese restaurant ran away empty-handed because they couldn’t figure out how to open the cash register.

The men, one of whom had a gun, entered the Peking House restaurant at about 8 p.m. Monday. A female employee saw the gun, ran out the back and called police.

Police said the thieves couldn’t figure out how to open the cash drawer, so they took off.

Police scoured the neighborhood but couldn’t find the suspects. The attempted theft remains under investigation.

How about looking for three guys who can’t figure out how to change a light bulb? Shouldn’t be too hard.